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Mac Pro 1,1 10.9.2 (Tiamo) Graphic Card Suggestions

Getting the right graphics card for a stock MacPro 1,1

I've been looking around on many sites in reference to upgrading the graphics card for my MacPro 1,1. According Apple's site I could install a GeForce 8800 gt ... I have looked around eBay and my concern is finding a "true and authentic" version. I see a lot on eBay, but how can I tell from a photo if it could have been something Apple used? Did those cards have any Nvidia Branding--looking for some guidance. I will ask of course the sellers, I just need some additional data before going down that rabbit hole.

Also, I have been seeing references to the Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition. Without any modification, flashing, etc., will this card work 100% with the MacPro 1,1--boot screens and all? Would it be worth spending a little more to get more bandwidth if I update to 10.9/10.10?

Thanks for you help in advance.
 
Mac Pro 1,1 10.9.2 (Tiamo) Graphic Card Suggestions

tolrodco said:
I've been looking around on many sites in reference to upgrading the graphics card for my MacPro 1,1. According Apple's site I could install a GeForce 8800 gt ... I have looked around eBay and my concern is finding a "true and authentic" version. I see a lot on eBay, but how can I tell from a photo if it could have been something Apple used? Did those cards have any Nvidia Branding--looking for some guidance. I will ask of course the sellers, I just need some additional data before going down that rabbit hole.



Also, I have been seeing references to the Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition. Without any modification, flashing, etc., will this card work 100% with the MacPro 1,1--boot screens and all? Would it be worth spending a little more to get more bandwidth if I update to 10.9/10.10?



Thanks for you help in advance.
Click to expand...


This is the 8800GT Mac version. It only has Nvidia branding. The 8800 GT is an ok card for general use but it is noisy and runs hot. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1414169429.167262.jpg

I don't know about the Sapphire 7950.
 
Dell servers used nearly identical 8800gts, down to same EEPROM chip.

Easiest way to know real Apple part is lack of S-Video port. All 8800gts are ticking time bombs at this point.

Real sapphire 7950 for Mac have white fan, not red. Keep in mind no working 32 but drivers for 10.7.x, must run 10.8 or later.

Some flashed cards are 100% equal to real, others have issues. Problem is most card flashers are"copy & paste" code kiddies with no knowledge of how things work. They get a rom for a particular model and flash it onto anything similar. I counted yesterday, I have had to create 7 different GTX770 roms, for the 4gb version. They keep changing RAM chips so the roms keep changing.
 
tolrodco said:
Also, I have been seeing references to the Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition. Without any modification, flashing, etc., will this card work 100% with the MacPro 1,1--boot screens and all?
Click to expand...

I use this 7950, which is the PC version of the Mac 7950:

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1157&pid=1878&psn=&lid=1&leg=0

MUCH cheaper. No boot screen until flashed, which is easy thanks to Netkas. Otherwise fully functional.

MacVidCards... I have a usable system under 10.7.5 when needed. Occasional screen flicker, but nothing major.
 
tolrodco said:
I've been looking around on many sites in reference to upgrading the graphics card for my MacPro 1,1. According Apple's site I could install a GeForce 8800 gt ... I have looked around eBay and my concern is finding a "true and authentic" version. I see a lot on eBay, but how can I tell from a photo if it could have been something Apple used? Did those cards have any Nvidia Branding--looking for some guidance. I will ask of course the sellers, I just need some additional data before going down that rabbit hole.

Also, I have been seeing references to the Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition. Without any modification, flashing, etc., will this card work 100% with the MacPro 1,1--boot screens and all? Would it be worth spending a little more to get more bandwidth if I update to 10.9/10.10?

Thanks for you help in advance.
Click to expand...


I have a 8800GT Mac edition which I bought some time ago for my MacPro2,1...

It's still working well, just replaced it with a GT610 PC edition.
 
666sheep said:
So it's far from functional.
Click to expand...

The semantics from a few on this forum are begining to drive me crazy. I'll clarify for you:

The thread is about 10.9.2 Graphics card suggestions. The card I linked to is FULLY FUNCTIONAL when used on a Mavericks installation. With or without flashing.

Under 10.7.x, MacVidCards suggested there was no driver support, so I thought I'd check for myself. Although there is no acceleration, the system is USABLE.

But I thought I already said that.

I haven't tried to get full acceleration in Lion, because I don't care enough to bother. Why anyone would choose to use Lion over Mavericks or Yosemite, even on these old Mac Pros, I can't answer.
 
My coments was regarding Lion, not Mavericks. No need to clarify then. I know how usable is OS without GPU acceleration.
 
richgoga said:
The semantics from a few on this forum are begining to drive me crazy. I'll clarify for you:

The thread is about 10.9.2 Graphics card suggestions. The card I linked to is FULLY FUNCTIONAL when used on a Mavericks installation. With or without flashing.

Under 10.7.x, MacVidCards suggested there was no driver support, so I thought I'd check for myself. Although there is no acceleration, the system is USABLE.

But I thought I already said that.

I haven't tried to get full acceleration in Lion, because I don't care enough to bother. Why anyone would choose to use Lion over Mavericks or Yosemite, even on these old Mac Pros, I can't answer.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this, it was extremely helpful (simple and to the point). I am personally having an issue with the sheer amount of information out there, a LOT of which is dated (for example, prior to driver support directly built into OSX).

To clarify, I am on a mac pro 2,1 and basically looking for a graphics card upgrade (still have the original 256mb) that can plug and play (without any flashing/mods) once I upgrade the OS to 10.9.2 using the tiamo method. Do your points above hold true as well? (Specifically, for driver support… does that apply to both Nvidia and ATI cards? I’ve gone through the thread and seen both suggested and can’t seem to find a clear answer to the ‘cleanest’ method).

The only difference I have read about 1,1 and 2,1 is that the 2,1 has 64-bit EFI that can be activated (not sure if I have this correct), and so can take advantage of the throughput of the latest hardware? If someone can confirm this it would be greatly appreciated.
 
Mac Pro 1,1 10.9.2 (Tiamo) Graphic Card Suggestions

brinboston said:
Thanks for this, it was extremely helpful (simple and to the point). I am personally having an issue with the sheer amount of information out there, a LOT of which is dated (for example, prior to driver support directly built into OSX).



To clarify, I am on a mac pro 2,1 and basically looking for a graphics card upgrade (still have the original 256mb) that can plug and play (without any flashing/mods) once I upgrade the OS to 10.9.2 using the tiamo method. Do your points above hold true as well? (Specifically, for driver support… does that apply to both Nvidia and ATI cards? I’ve gone through the thread and seen both suggested and can’t seem to find a clear answer to the ‘cleanest’ method).



The only difference I have read about 1,1 and 2,1 is that the 2,1 has 64-bit EFI that can be activated (not sure if I have this correct), and so can take advantage of the throughput of the latest hardware? If someone can confirm this it would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...


The 2,1 does NOT have a 64bit EFI that can be activated. It is the same setup as the 1,1 with a different firmware that recognizes the Clovertown Xeon CPUs. A 1,1 can be flashed to a 2,1. There is no 64bit EFI for either the 1,1 or 2,1.

As of 10.7 most Nvidia cards will 100% work out of the box with the default OS X drivers. You can also install the Nvidia Web Drivers but I haven't seen any benefit to using them. If you are looking for a high end card the biggest restriction is that the Mac Pro only has two 6 pin power connectors for a GPU. Many high end cards require at least on 8 pin. I do not recommend using a 6 to 8 pin adapter. GPUs are becoming efficient enough that the new GTX 980 has two 6 pins but the higher end 6xx and 7xx almost all require an 8 pin. A good card you can probable find pretty cheap now is the GTX 570.

Also why update to 10.9.2 when there is a fully working boot.efi that supports Yosemite now?
 
Thanks for the advice! Understood about the 2x 6-pin connectors, have read that it is not recommended to get anything that requires 8-pin.

Keeping things simple, what other factors should I consider?
- I misunderstood the EFI but I recall there was another point to consider, in that the mac pro cannot fully take advantage of ____ due to dated hardware. Maybe it was the type of PCI connection?
- amount of RAM? Worth splurging for a 3gb or 4gb?

Bottom line: okay with spending a little more up to point that card can be utilized by system. Thank you!!
 
brinboston said:
Thanks for the advice! Understood about the 2x 6-pin connectors, have read that it is not recommended to get anything that requires 8-pin.

Keeping things simple, what other factors should I consider?
- I misunderstood the EFI but I recall there was another point to consider, in that the mac pro cannot fully take advantage of ____ due to dated hardware. Maybe it was the type of PCI connection?
- amount of RAM? Worth splurging for a 3gb or 4gb?

Bottom line: okay with spending a little more up to point that card can be utilized by system. Thank you!!
Click to expand...

The original Mac Pros are PCIe 1.0. When gaming you won't see much of a difference, besides 1-3 FPS, between PCIe 1.0/2.0/3.0 x8 or x16. Games don't saturate the bandwidth so it isn't really an issue. If you plan to use the card for computation then you might run into a bottleneck on a PCIe 1.0 x16 if the software you are using can completely saturate the bandwidth of that slot.

More vram is always going to be better but it depends on what you are planning to do with the card if it is going to be worth it or not. I can play BF3 under Windows 7 x64 with my GTX 570 1280MB at maxed out settings and get 40-50 FPS on average. I run the settings a little lower so there are fewer drops but most everything is set on at least high.
 
I looked into the different nvidia models and I think the 700 series requires one 6 pin and one 8 pin? From what I've read that is doable but not recommended... Or I could be wrong and it is model specific. Can someone chime in?
 
brinboston said:
I looked into the different nvidia models and I think the 700 series requires one 6 pin and one 8 pin? From what I've read that is doable but not recommended... Or I could be wrong and it is model specific. Can someone chime in?
Click to expand...

It depends on the model and manufacturer. The 750 Ti does not require an 8-pin connector and usually only requires a single 6-pin connector. Different manufactures will have different specs for each card too, depending on if it is over clocked and requires more voltage. For example the new GTX 980 usually only has 2 6-pin connectors but there is an overlocked Gigabyte version that has two 8-pin connectors.
 
Hennesie... a virtual beer for you, for your invaluable input!

i had decided on a eVGA gtx660 (03G-P4-2666-KR) prior to seeing the updated replies. Thoughts on the 660 vs 750? Only difference I can tell is 128-bit vs 192-bit. The 3gb model I referenced is a negligible price difference (like $20) while the 750 comes with 2gb.

Lunacee, do you know the exact model number of the 750ti you ordered? there are a number of variants
 
Mac Pro 1,1 10.9.2 (Tiamo) Graphic Card Suggestions

Hi All
First post here, but I've tried to search this forum and the internet for a solution to my problem
History : Upgraded my Mac Pro 1,1 to Mavericks through the help of (Tiamo thank you ) and installed Nvidia 8800t graphics card, (bought from ebay), here is what I'm seeing, green dots everywhere, its intermittent though
Any help would be welcome, please

IMG_6027.jpg
 
mikeleng said:
Hi All

First post here, but I've tried to search this forum and the internet for a solution to my problem

History : Upgraded my Mac Pro 1,1 to Mavericks through the help of (Tiamo thank you ) and installed Nvidia 8800t graphics card, (bought from ebay), here is what I'm seeing, green dots everywhere, its intermittent though

Any help would be welcome, please



View attachment 512748
Click to expand...


This is most likely a problem with the cable or the port on the card. Have you tried the other port?
 
Hi Hennesie2000
I've tried the other port, no joy, tried another cable no joy, tried another card as well, still same problem .
cheers
Mike
 
Thank you, Hennesie2000
I think I solved the problem, tried my cable from the Radeon 1900 xt, it seems to be working OK .
Two faulty cables from ebay, not good enough
Thanks for your feedback
Mike
 
mikeleng said:
Thank you, Hennesie2000

I think I solved the problem, tried my cable from the Radeon 1900 xt, it seems to be working OK .

Two faulty cables from ebay, not good enough

Thanks for your feedback

Mike
Click to expand...


For great quality and inexpensive cables I recommend monoprice.com. I use them on all my computers and home theater.
 
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